Method of preserving textile articles.



A. FOWLER.

METHOD OF PRESERVING TEXTILE ARTICLES.

' APPLICATION FILED FEB. 1, 1913.

Patented 0013.7, 1913.

l/V/T/VESSES COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH cu 'ASHINGTON, n. c.

more s AMELIA FOVTLER, or BOSTON,

IMASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD OF PRESERVING TEXTILE ARTICLES.

Application filed February 1, 1913.

1 b all whom it may concern Be it known that I, AMELIA FOWLER, a citizenof the United States, residing at Boston, county of Suffolk,Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Methods of Preserving Textile Articles, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to the preservation of textile articles andparticularly to such articles as flags, standards, emblems, and thelike, of which the historical value makes their preservation a patrioticnecessity as well as a sacred duty.

This country was a pioneer in the adoption of a flag of strictlynational character and any invention regarding such preservation must beconsidered as a matter of the greatest importance, even though, as inthe present case, the invention be capable of application to mattersless important from the highest consideration. In discussing myinvention, I shall therefore devote the most particularly to the art offlag preservation.

As there are none today who can be described as skilled in the art, savethe few assistants trained in my own work, I shall endeavor herein tomake my disclosure so full and complete as to require for the practiceof my invention, only that mechanical skill which the needle worker mayhave acquired in other lines, although, of course, there may beadvantageously added to such skill whatever artistic ability the workermay possess.

Battle flags and like articles, being of textile fabric, and usually ofsilk or silk and mixtures, are particularly liable to damage. Aside fromthe destructive experience of campaigns, the flag is liable to even moreserious damage by the ravages of time. The draping of a flag, whichpermits it to hang with one part drawing upon another, brings a veryconsiderable strain on the fabric. This causes a disintegration of thefabric, and a pulling apart of the threads, which sooner or later, mustsnap those upon which the greatest strain comes.

In those flags, which I have already been called upon to restore orpreserve by my invention, I have found many flags of one hundred yearsof age and some of very much less age, which have practically shreddedthemselves asunder, and have been re duced to a literal state of rags.To pre- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented (Pet. '7, 1913.

Serial No. 745,588.

serve such rags, so that there may be some certainty of theirtransmission to pos terity, it is necessary that all. of these tattersof fabric be brought into their proper position and relation and thereretained. It is obvious that such a relic as a battle flag must beretained in its condition even though that condition be one of greatinjury and disfigurement. Frequently, the very disfigurement is, initself, a matter of historic value. It has, therefore, been one of myproblems in the preservation of flags, to prepare and preserve them inas nearly exactly their true historic condition at the time I receivethem as is possible.

Another difficulty which has to be anticipated, is that of the medium bywhich the flag itself is to be protected. In all flags, and particularlyin large flags, there is a certain amountof play or movement in theparts when in any except a tightly packed state. The swaying, even, of aflag produces movement of all its fibers and if the ancient fibers, intheir weakened and damaged condition, be in the presence of fibers ofgreater strength or hardness, the softer fiber is bound to wear away. Ithas thus frequently happen that where the preservation of flags has beenattempeted the strengthening fibers used have actually destroyed thatwhich they were intended to preserve.

My method consists in brief of incorpo-' rating the flag or other fabricto be preserved together with a strengthening memher into a mesh ofthread composed of stitches which penetrate both the flag and thestrengthening piece at frequent regular intervals.

While my invention is from its nature rather difficult of illustration,I have, nevertheless, attempted to set forth the elements, which areinvolved, in a somewhat diagrammatic, illustrative embodiment. In this Ihave employed reference numerals to inclicate corresponding parts foridentification in connection with the specification.

In these drawings: Figure 1 indicates the mesh of stitches which formsthe enveloping container within which the flag and backing are embodied.Fig. 2 is a View of a pennant with its strengthening member, and withthe enveloping mesh indicated. Fig. 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic sectionshowing the relation of the strengthening member, fabric, and theenveloping mesh. Fig.

-dition as is possible while making it available as a display. It willbe understood that many flags, particularly ancient flags, as those ofthe American Revolution or of the War of 1812, as well as the CivilVVar,have been reduced by service and by decay and moth to a condition wherethey are in a state of absolute rags and tatters. I, therefore, firstprovide a strengthening piece 2 of substantially the size of the entireflag. This piece is preferably of the best Irish or Belgian linen. Thismaterial I use in its unbleached condition, in which condition itpossesses the greatest strength and durability. Upon this linen piece Iarrange all the parts of the flag in their proper relative position,pressing out the small pieces and ar ranging them. In this I find asmall electric fiat-iron of great convenience and assistance in makingthe parts of the flag to lie flat and in restoring them to their naturalshape. When the flag has been entirely spread out and arranged I begin,preferably, at one corner and form a mesh of thread 3 stitched throughthe flag and strengthening piece or, in the case of missing areas,through the strengthening piece alone. The thread used is preferablyvaried as to color so as to match locally the parts of the flag which itenvelops. This leaves the characters of the flag in complete prominencewithout obscuring any of the parts thereof or designs thereon. The meshbeing open, leaves both the characters of the flag and even itscondition, clearly visible, but itclosely and firmly confines the flagfabric with the strengthening piece. These two elements are thereforeheld in intimate relation by the penetration of the stitches which formthe mesh and which occur at regular intervals.

For a flag of ordinary size, and in fact of most sizes, I employ a meshstitched of about one-fourth of an inch square. This confines acorresponding flag area which is held against motion in all fourdirections. By pursuing my method a display is secured which consists ofthe article to be preserved which is embodied together with a suitablestrengthening member within the protective and retaining mesh. Thus Iconvert a relic which may only be held with the utmost care and whichhas heretofore, of necessity been kept in air tight cases, into adisplay which may be embodied in mural decoration as has been done withthe flags at the United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, or may behung within cases as they have been exhibited elsewhere.

WVhile my invention is capable of some slight modification, both as tothe materials used, and as to the form of stitch employed in forming themesh, T advocate a rigid be:

servance of 'the form and method herein specified as having been vprovedmost satisfactory by exhaustive demonstration with materials too sacredto admit of experimentation. I, therefore,'consider my invention as ofsuflicient breadth to cover all such modifications as above suggested ifwithin the limits of the appended claims.

What I therefore claim and desire to se cure by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of preserving textile articles consisting in disposing thearticle to be preserved in its natural arrangement on a strengtheningmember, in incorporating the article and the strengthening member in anenveloping mesh of thread, said mesh being formed of open stitchespassing through said article and strengthening material at frequentintervals to define regular comparatively small areas of said articleand strengthening member.

2. The method of preserving multi-colored textile articles consisting indisposing the article to be preserved in its natural arrangement on astrengthening member of neutral color, in incorporating the article andthe strengthening member in an enveloping mesh of thread of colorslocally matching the color of said article, said mesh being formed ofopen stitches passing through said article and strengthening member atfrequent intervals to define regular comparaively small areas of saidarticle and strengthening member.

3. The method of preservin multi-colored textile articles consisting indisposing the article to be preserved in its natural arrangement on asuitable strengthening member, in incorporating the article and thestrengthening member in an enveloping mesh of thread of colors locallymatching the color of said article, said mesh being formed of openstitches passing through said article and strengthening member atfrequent intervals to define regular comparatively small areas of saidarticle and strengthening member. I

In testimony whereof I my signature in presence of two witnesses.

AMELIA FOWLER.

Witnesses JOHN E. MoCUsKER, SAMUEL DAVIS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I G.

